


Brienne's secret santa

by justme (silver_spring)



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, I really held back on the made up tags this time, JBO secret santa '16
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-12
Updated: 2016-12-12
Packaged: 2018-09-08 01:33:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8824906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silver_spring/pseuds/justme
Summary: It's four weeks to christmas and Brienne is not particularly festive. But some holiday spirit might just find the way to her door.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GumTree](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GumTree/gifts).



> At the JBO forum, we're having a secret santa and I was assigned the lovely GumTree as my recipient. The three words she came up with as inspiration or to be included were: Glove, crown and bird. They do make an appearance, but they're not overly prominent. Sorry!
> 
> Happy Holidays, GumTree! Hope you enjoy :)

Brienne opened her apartment door to get to brunch with her friends and stepped out, only to freeze midstep. There was something under her shoe. Something squishy that made a crinkling sound. Looking down, she saw a small package, wrapped in brightly colored christmas paper. Quickly taking her foot off it again, she bent down and picked it up to look for a name sticker. Maybe someone had gotten the wrong door? They all looked alike after all. Her size 11 boots had flattened the sparkly green bow considerably and Brienne grimaced as she imagined the look of disapproval she would get if this package turned out to belong to the guy in the apartment below hers, a stickler for rules and correctness named Stannis. There was a plain white card slid under the flat ribbon and she pulled it out and flipped it over to read the printed text.

_"Dear Brienne,_  
_Christmas is coming, don't get cold! Happy first advent, your secret admirer"_

The only thing moving were her rapidly blinking eyelids. Her what now? Brienne's first idea was that this had to be some sort of prank and so she finally unfroze her body again to take a good look all around her, trying to find someone hiding in the hallway or a camera set up to tape this moment. There was nothing and no one to be found, though that didn't necessarily have to mean anything. They could be hiding out well or simply be happy knowing she had stepped on it, whatever it was. As a former victim to many pranks during her teenage years, her next step was to shake the package and cautiously sniff it. It didn't make a sound and it didn't stink. Huh. After another cautious look down the hallway, Brienne took the package back into her apartment and put it on the kitchen counter. She would take a second look at it later, after all she was already late.

On the drive to Hot Pie's she naturally only thought about the unexpected gift on her doorstep. Specifically, the part about the 'secret admirer'. That part had to be a joke, it just had to be; she knew not that many people and none of them close enough for them to qualify as a secret admirer. She wondered what was underneath the wrapping paper. If it weren't for the wariness ingrained in her after being the butt of a joke too many times in the past, she would've already ripped it off to find out. Brienne shook her head. Perhaps this was an early christmas gift. Who would have thought it? The holidays were so not on her radar. Sure, she'd already gotten the things she was going to give her friends, but that was about the extent of her festiveness.

  
As a child, she had loved christmas and everything about it. The glittering lights, the smells of cinnamon, vanilla and other spices, the very magic that seemed to be in the air. She had spent so much time wondering what Santa would bring her when she was very little and later, after she'd found out the truth about Santa Claus, trying to find the perfect gift for her dad and not give herself away with pleasant anticipation when she thought she'd found it. Their celebrations were small compared to those of other families, what with it only being her and dad, but Brienne had never minded not having a huge gathering of relatives around or elaborate holiday feasts. Her and dad, decorating the tree together with a motley assortment of ornaments in every color, stuffing themselves with cookies or watching holiday movies together on the couch after the gift unwrapping, wearing pyjamas and those paper crowns that came with christmas crackers, telling each other the jokes and riddles that had been in theirs..it was all she had needed or wanted. Since dad had passed the spring after her college graduation, so many things had changed and christmas was one of them.

  
Now, she didn't even really celebrate, treated christmas day like any other day off work, pretty much. The first year it had just been too hard to try and get into anything resembling a holiday spirit and after that, she hadn't even tried. It wasn't that she hated the holidays now, or went through december as a sort of Grinch; passing giddy and wide-eyed kids in the mall that were waiting in line to sit on Santa's lap still made her smile and walking past a christmas fair still smelled wonderful. But there was no tree at her apartment, no stocking hanging anywhere, no decorations whatsoever and definitely no magical holiday spirit. Though they never stopped asking, her friends Sansa and Margaery had long accepted that Brienne was forever turning down their well-meant invitations to come and have dinner with them and their families; she didn't want to impose on anyone's private celebrations. If there had been a special someone in her life it would've been different and they would have their own private celebration, but there wasn't and there hadn't been for a long time. Certainly never of the romantic variety. Women that were over 6'4'' tall, with not much in the boob department but broader shoulders than most men weren't exactly much in demand on the dating scene. In contrast to her rather mannish stature, Brienne was a shy softie on the inside and that combination only made meeting people even harder.

  
It was a wonder she had managed to make so many friends since moving to King's landing, really. Okay, Margaery didn't count as a new friend; they had met and struck up their friendship during college in Highgarden and after graduation it just so happened that their different career paths had led them both to the capital for their respective master's degrees in library science for Brienne and political science for Marge. During that time, Margaery had met a fellow student by the name of Tyrion Lannister, eventually, they began dating and so Brienne had gained a friend in him quasi per default. What Tyrion lacked in height due to his dwarfism, he definitely made up for in personality and smarts; he was the life of every party and even when drunk could win pretty much any argument against anyone with logic and reason. So far, him and Marge had broken up three times, but gotten together again shortly afterwards each time. Lately Tyrion had began to joke that the next time Margaery dumped him he would simply marry her to end this seesaw ride and her friend had confided in Brienne that she was contemplating taking him up on that joke because 'after five years I want my damn engagement ring!'.

  
Over Tyrion it had been that Brienne had met Jaime. A Lannister as well and Tyrion's older brother. His older, incredibly gorgeous brother. Jaime Lannister could've worked as a model any day with his muscled 6'3'' body, tousled blonde hair and emerald green eyes, and he might have even considered doing that just to piss off his father and destroy his visions for his eldest son and attempts of grooming him to take over the family empire one day, yet he had ultimately chosen to find something he actually enjoyed doing. The fact that his job as a medieval history professor pissed off his father as well was just an added bonus. Meeting Jaime had been..something. His first reaction upon seeing her actually had been 'Gods, is that a girl?' which of course had her on the defense right away. She decided on the spot that she didn't like him one bit. Fine, when they met at Tyrion's place about four years ago, she'd come fresh from a workout and absolutely hadn't looked her best, but still. It had taken quite some time and his brother and Marge's persuasion to give him another chance. Over time, Brienne had learned that most of the time, Jaime didn't even mean the things that came out of his mouth in a bad way. He simply wasn't quite right in the head: Where other people had their verbal filter, Jaime only had a flashing neon sign with the words 'Go for it!' on it that only switched off when he was at work and not even always then. He may have been a few years older than her, but there was something of an eternal child in Jaime, just blurting out his thoughts as they came to him. There had been a little momentary setback in their blossoming friendship when he'd begun to call her 'wench', but once again, Margaery intervened when she informed her that assigning nicknames to people was a sure way to know that Jaime liked someone and pointed out that he often called her Smirky McSmirkface and his own brother a semi-pro alcoholic. When he didn't talk to someone, that's when they had to get worried. Well, if all of that was true, Brienne was in no imminent danger. Jaime babbled all the time about one thing or the other. Watching a film with the man was practically impossible, albeit funny because his commentary was always spot-on. During the course of the last four years he had in any case managed to make a better impression on her and become a friend on his own merits. He was oftentimes hilarious, yet could also be serious when you needed an honest opinion, he was caring and proudly stated that chivalry would not go extinct as long as he was alive and he always ate the unwanted mushrooms from her pizza. There were times when Brienne caught herself thinking about how it would be if there were something more between them, but she was pretty good at getting those notions of insanity out of her head quickly. Jaime was too goodlooking, too sophisticated (when he wanted to be), too much out of her league and too much not interested in the too tall, too unpretty, too shy and too mousy girl she was. It was not fine, but okay. At least she had him as a friend.

  
Jaime's chivalry was the reason for meeting Sansa. One night, after their group of four had gone to the movies, he had walked Brienne home since the apartment she had lived in back then hadn't been far from the cineplex while Tyrion lived quite some distance away, in the posh part of town. Turning one corner, they saw a young woman getting harassed by two drunk men. The girl tried to get away, but one of the two always ran by her to stand in her way and stop her again while the other one blocked her possible retreat from behind. Jaime had immediately taken off to intervene, with Brienne only a few steps behind. There had been yelling, shoving and a punch to the face of one of the guys after he'd said something unpleasant about her, but in the end, the drunks had fled, Jaime had massaged his hurting knuckles and Sansa had flung herself against Brienne, crying. She was a college freshman new to the city and simply had ended up in the wrong place on her way to find a bookshop someone had recommended to her, as they found out when they took the shivering girl to the nearest coffee place. Softie that she was, Brienne had given Sansa her phone number and told her to call some time if she needed someone to talk to or tell her about the unsafe parts of King's Landing. That call came by the next night and the rest was, as they say, history. They met a few times for coffee and bonded over their love for classic romantic tales. Eventually, Brienne had taken Sansa with her to a brunch with Marge and those two had gotten on perfectly.

  
Completing her circle of friends was Podrick Payne, or Pod as he preferred to be called. He was currently studying for the same master's degree Brienne held and worked in her library. Pod was reserved as well, highly nervous to the point that he began to stutter at times when he was stressed or freaked out and had a special interest in the lores of the knights of old. They had bonded over their shared love for books and hatred for people that dog-eared or even scribbled into books that didn't belong to them. He was a nice guy, always willing to go and work the ancient coffee maker that seemed to hate Brienne and when he felt secure and not nervous, he could be quite entertaining with lots and lots of movie quotes.

  
Having arrived at the cafe, Brienne parked the car and got out. She was going to keep this potential-gift thing to herself for the time being. It could still turn out to be something nasty wrapped in an old sweater or whatever and the part about the admirer would only draw questions from her friends that she couldn't answer and would be so embarrassing if it turned out to be a joke after all.

  
*~*~*~*MERRY CHRISTMAS*~*~*~*~

  
Three hours later, Brienne came back home. Their weekly sunday brunch had been nice, as always. Margaery and Tyrion had both pulled her aside at some point asking her to help find out what the other one would like for christmas and Jaime had declared that he wasn't going to waste a single thought about 'all that stupid stuff until the 20th, at least'. Sansa had given her a very detailed recap of some romance novel she'd read and asked if Brienne knew any books that featured a similar plot and hero that she could read during the upcoming travel back north to Winterfell and her family over the holidays. Jaime had attempted to goad her into ordering Hot Pie's jumbo pancakes with him and make it a speed-eating competition, but she had declined. Getting into an eating (or drinking) contest with a Lannister was a mistake you only made once. They had quite nice abs, but their stomachs were endless pits.

  
Walking into the kitchen, Brienne's glance immediately fell onto the colorful package still sitting on the counter. She put on the kettle for some tea and grabbed the gift, taking it with her to the living room, where she plunked down onto her couch and sat cross-legged before gingerly peeling away the ribbon and the tape that had been generously put onto the folding corners. Pulling back the paper, Brienne blinked. This was no old dirty sweater or something even worse. This was...nice. More than that, actually. It was a set of matching scarf, gloves and a woolen beret made from sapphire blue mohair. The fluffiest, softest mohair she'd ever touched, as she found out when she ran her fingertips over the beret.

  
Picking up the card again, Brienne re-read the short text. _Don't get cold_. Well, snugly attire like that certainly would help not catching a cold. A small smile stole itself onto her lips as she pulled the scarf out of the remnants of wrapping paper and rubbed it against her cheek. Soft and cuddly. And the color was almost the same as her eyes and would go well together with her new dark grey coat. Really, this set was too pretty and comfy looking to not try it out at least. Besides, someone obviously wanted her to have and enjoy it. A, as they called themselves, secret admirer. It had to be someone she knew. Someone that knew she liked the color blue and that knew where she lived, obviously. Maybe her friends had come up with this, in order to give her some christmas-y feelings? Since the card had been printed, there was no handwriting that would give them away. But then again, would they really try this 'secret admirer' route, knowing of her eternal singledom? Not likely. They were planning a little pre-holidays party before Sansa left for Winterfell, three days to christmas eve where gifts would be exchanged. This extra one wasn't necessary at all. And since the gift had been genuine, maybe the card was too. A thought that made her heart speed up for a moment. Who else could it be? Renly Baratheon, the barista from her favorite coffee shop that she had crushed on for what felt like a split second, was gay. So was Loras, Margaery's brother. Oberyn, her neighbor from the old apartment complex was..well, he was very generous with his affections and had in fact once offered her to come to his place for a oldfashioned key party, but that was the thing. Oberyn would've been straight-forward, simply inviting her to another group bang that she wanted no part of. Together with her three male friends that was already the whole group of men she was acquainted on a personal level with. Could it be a girl? No. If that person knew her, they also knew she wasn't gay. Perpetually single, but straight as they come. Still, she couldn't quite discard the thought. You never knew with people. If there was someone out there that was interested in her, they might overlook that being straight thing because of their own feelings.

  
So how should she go about finding out? She couldn't very well walk up to everyone they knew and ask them if they had given her these things and held special feelings for her. Or could she? No. That would only lead to a lot of embarrassed blushing and mortification in case the answer was negative.

  
In the end, Brienne decided to simply wear her new winter attire starting tomorrow and pay extra attention if someone showed a reaction to seeing her in it.

  
Over the next few days, the only one that showed any interest in her lovely new scarf, gloves and hat was Sansa who told her how pretty they were, asked where she had gotten them from and if Brienne would be mad if Sansa got herself a similar set, but in pink. While she could assure her friend that getting her own set would be fine by her, after all Brienne held no monopoly on scarves and stuff, she couldn't answer the question of where they had been purchased and when Sansa followed that up with the simple question of Why?, Brienne's inability to lie made her spill the truth about how it had ended up in her possession. Sansa's interest had immediately been piqued and she had bombarded her with even more questions she had no answers to, finally ending with the statement that it was supercute and very romantic and she couldn't wait to find out who the Secret Santa and potential new boyfriend was. Brienne tried her best to downplay the whole thing. It was a long way from dropping a gift onto her doorstep to becoming her partner, after all. While she had worn her winter things every day, and would continue to do so since they were not only heavenly soft but also wonderfully warm in the quickly dropping temperatures outside, she had come to think that it probably was a one-time thing, someone doing something nice for her because she had, unknowingly, done something nice for them at some point. That explanation was just easier to believe on the whole. Especially since she hadn't heard from the ominous secret admirer again. Still, if that had been the intended effect, to do something nice and make her smile, their plan had worked to the fullest and she was grateful for that.

  
*~*~*~*~FROHE WEIHNACHTEN*~*~*~*~

 

The next sunday morning, Brienne opened her door as she had every other day this past week: With a glance onto her doormat. But while that glance had only made her see that she needed to replace that mat as soon as she got around to it for the last six days, today there was something on it. Another colorfully wrapped package with green sparkly bow. Quickly bending down to pick it up with a fast beating heart, she took it with her to the living room. Just like last week, there was a plain white card slid under the ribbon and she almost tore the paper in her efforts to get it out as fast as she could.

  
_"Brienne,  
Three weeks until Christmas, high time to write your wishlist for Santa! Happy second advent, your secret admirer"_

  
Part of her wanted to take her time, think about what it could be first and then carefully unwrap it, but her curiosity won out fast and so Brienne just ripped the paper off.

  
It was a midnight blue fountain pen and a moleskin journal in dark brown.

  
While she hadn't kept a journal since she had been about fourteen and witnessed a fellow student writing into hers at school which had led to Ron Connington stealing that girl's diary and reading it out loud, making Brienne keep her thoughts in her head from then on just to be on the safe side, seeing this new journal made her smile. Maybe she wouldn't write down her everyday thoughts and things she'd experienced, but she vowed to herself she would write something in it and only with the pen that she had been gifted alongside.

  
_Who are you?_ she thought for the umpteenth time.

  
Someone out there wanted her to have a nice christmas. Someone out there actually cared about her. Her smile turned into a small grin. This was, in all its mystery about the giver and the excitement, perhaps the best part of the gifts or the biggest gift in itself. Maybe there still was some christmas magic after all. She cracked open her new moleskin diary, opened the pen and wrote a thank you note to the unknown person that had made her feel this little bit of giddy anticipation for the holidays for the first time in years and how thankful she was for their thoughtfulness.

  
By the time she looked to the clock, she had written three pages and was, again, running late for sunday brunch. Gently putting her new journal and pen down, Brienne got ready in new record time and in the car, she even looked for a radio station that played seasonal songs.

  
As soon as she got through the door at Hot Pie's, said hello to everyone and had taken her seat, Sansa leaned forward.

  
"And?"

  
The same question she had asked her every day this week. Only today, there was no negative answer to it.

  
"Yeah. It happened again."

  
"What happened again?" Marge asked, looking up from cutting her bagel.

  
"Brie's got a secret admirer!" burst out of Sansa before Brienne had the chance to answer herself. To be fair, holding it in for almost a full week was probably a major achievement for their bubbly friend.

  
"Really? Who?"

  
Sansa rolled her eyes.

  
"Duh, Marge. What part of secret admirer did you not get?"

  
"Oh. Right" Margaery chuckled, before focusing again. "Well, what happened again with him?"

  
"Did you meet online and cyber?" Tyrion chimed in, showing them a half-chewed bite from a blueberry muffin Hot Pie's was famous for. Three things happened pretty much simultaneously. Margaery slapped Tyrion on the back of his head for the suggestion, Tyrion swallowed reflexively, which led to a coughing fit and Brienne turned beet red.

  
Marge grabbed Tyrion's full glass of water for him which he gulped down in about four seconds while she apologetically rubbed his back.

  
"Sorry baby, but you know about my momma bear reflex when it comes to Brienne."

  
"Well don't hit me again, but I think it's safe to say she will have sex again eventually."

  
_Again?_ Apparently, Tyrion did not know about her still-a-virgin situation. Well, she was not going to clue him in.

  
"Can we not talk about my sex life or lack thereof?"

  
"Can I second that notion? I'm still eating" Jaime spoke up. "That goes for all your sex lives, by the way."

  
"Well, no use talking about yours. We know that's nonexistent" Tyrion smirked at his older brother. Jaime dropped his fork with a faux-offended look and cradled his right hand in his left before waving it at Tyrion.

  
"How dare you say that, elf reject? I'll have you know we're very happy."

  
"..And I'm done eating" Margaery declared.

  
"Come on, Smirky. We both know you'll have that bagel and at least one more."

  
"I still demand a change of topic. I want to know more about what happened with the admirer. PG-version. Putting that out there, just in case."

  
"Well, I have found gifts on my doorstep these past two sundays" Brienne confessed, before someone led them back on the other topic again.

  
"Why is that the first I hear of this?"

  
"I haven't told anyone about it and before you complain: Sansa guessed it on her own. Sort of. She's sneaky."

  
"I have taught you too well grasshopper, it seems" Marge commented with a sideways glance at a smug looking Sansa.

  
"And you have no clue whatsoever who it could be?" Tyrion asked. Brienne shook her head.

  
"None."

  
"Oh, oh! What about that guy, you know which one I mean...the one from Pyke."

  
"Theon? Not in a thousand years, Marge."

  
"Thank the Gods for that. What about--"

  
"I've already been through the list of people I know, repeatedly, and I haven't come up with anything."

  
"What kind of gifts are we talking here?"

  
"Last week, it was the scarf and matching things and today it was a fountain pen and a moleskin to write in. Both times, there was a card with it and it's signed 'your secret admirer'. The first one said something about me not getting cold and the one today something about writing my wish list to Santa."

  
"That's so romantic" Sansa gushed.

  
"It's kinda superfluous, the list for Santa, I mean" Jaime said and from the twinkle in his eyes, Brienne could already tell he had something to follow that statement up with. Something that would likely make her blush.

  
"Yeah yeah, we know he's not real, it's still romantic" Sansa persisted with another eye roll. Jaime shook his head.

  
"Not what I meant. Santa already knows what you want, Brienne. You know the old song, don't you?"

  
He cleared his throat and began an off-key rendition of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town while looking straight at her.

  
"... _he sees you when you're sleeping / he knows when you're awake / he knows if you've been getting laid and when you masturbate_...hey!"

  
This time Margaery had slapped the other Lannister brother on the back of his head while Brienne, as predicted, blushed once more.

  
"You're no fun" Jaime grumbled, rubbing his head. "On a more serious note, though: Are you sure it's not some weirdo? It's kinda odd, don't you think? He knows where you live, he buys you stuff and puts it in front of your door, but he doesn't have the balls to ring the bell and say hi?"

  
Yeah. That thought had crossed her mind a few times this past week as well. For some inexplicable reason though, in spite of all her cautiousness in life, Brienne just had the deep feeling that this, whatever it was, was not dangerous. Maybe it was wishful thinking, and maybe it would do well to be more alert in general and perhaps put another lock on her door, but on the other hand, maybe the secret admirer was simply shy, just like she was. For the time being, she chose to believe into someone's good intentions. And put the old baseball bat next to her bed.

  
"Want me to hang out in your hallway next sunday? I could take a look, find out who it is in case he comes back." Jaime followed up.

  
"No. But thank you" Brienne replied. "I think I'll manage this one on my own. Besides, you would just forever scar whoever it is with some treasures of your colorful vocabulary. Or scare them off by singing." she finished with a smirk of her own.

  
"Suit yourself, wench. Offer stands, though."

  
"Noted."

  
"And don't insult my beautiful voice. It hurts my little feelings."

  
"You have two hands to make you feel better" Tyrion grinned, just as Margaery had reached into the basket for another bagel which she promptly dropped again.

  
*~*~*~*~FELIZ NAVIDAD*~*~*~*~

  
This whole past week, Brienne had found herself in a good mood. Not even the cold and occasional sleet, not even someone returning a copy of The Merchant Of Qarth with at least five dog-ears and countless penciled in comments had managed to bring her down. Even Sansa had commented on her higher than usual spirits when she'd visited her during work to look for some good travel books. Pod had spontaneously named at least five titles when Sansa had described once more what she was looking for, and the redhead had jumped into a lively discussion with him about romantic novels that weren't drivel or cheap and before long they had exchanged the names of their favorites and phone numbers. Podrick hadn't stumbled over his tongue once during the whole thing and Brienne had excused herself a few minutes into their discussion, a smile on her face and a feeling of almost maternal pride of Pod.

  
When sunday rolled around, she was out of bed at seven. And when she opened her front door still in her pyjamas, just to check, there was already another gift lying on her brandnew doormat. This time, the wrapping paper was a sparkly green and the bow was red. With a huge grin, Brienne picked it up and gently carried it with her to the couch. It felt like a flat cardboard box and as she ripped off the paper she found that she had been right. Before taking off the lid however, there was still the card.

_"Brienne,_  
_Two weeks until Christmas, and some entertainment for when you trim the tree! Happy third advent, your secret admirer"_

  
A tree? She hadn't even thought about getting one for herself. But now that the suggestion of decorating a tree was in her head, she let her gaze slide over her living room, trying to decide if one would fit in here and where. Not coming to a decision on the matter, Brienne rather focused on the still unopened box in her lap and took off the lid.  
Inside were a tree ornament in the shape of a cute little blue bird about the size of her palm, a cd with popular holiday tunes and a copy of Miracle On Silk Street, a classic christmas movie.

  
She had no time to watch the film just now, but she put the cd in before making tea and it continued to play while she went to shower. As coincidence would have it, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town was just coming on as she got out of the shower, only clad in a towel. It didn't make her blush, but chuckle heartily.

  
By the time she got to Hot Pie's, Brienne had decided on one thing. She was going to do it. She was, for the first time in years, getting a christmas tree and decorating it. Not just because of the secret admirer and his gifts with the intention to entertain her while she did it, but also because it felt right. This christmas felt already so much different than the ones since she had lost her dad, and yes, it might all come crashing down on christmas eve when she was alone in her apartment with a decorated tree and no one to share it with, but if that should happen and if she should be overwhelmed by sad feelings, she could always go to Margaery's. She had offered already two times and insisted that Tyrion and herself would be glad to have her over. And maybe, the big crashdown wouldn't happen after all. Maybe she would get wistful and maybe she would shed a tear or two, but if nothing else came from it, this holiday season had reminded her how much she had loved christmas once and after all, every journey had to begin with a first step. Maybe next holiday season it would be a little less sad and the year after that as well and one year it would be okay.

  
Sansa and Margaery were already squirming in their seats as if they were sitting on hot coals, wanting to know if the secret admirer had left something on her doorstep again or even a clue as to who he was. Unfortunately, there was no clue for Brienne to share with them. She wanted desperately to know who it was. To say thank you. She wasn't going to hope for more but she wanted the chance to tell that person how much it had meant to her. Deciding she was going to use her new pen to write them a letter telling them just that, she began to dig into her food.

  
"So what was it this time?" Sansa asked eagerly while Brienne was busy swallowing a forkful of scrambled eggs.

  
"A tree ornament, a dvd and a cd."

  
"Is _Every breath you take_ on it?" Jaime asked.

  
"No, of course not, it's a christmas cd. Why?"

  
"Because it's the inofficial stalker anthem.. _I'll be watching you_."

  
"He's not a stalker. He leaves her alone six days of the week" Sansa said, sounding somewhat unnerved. She probably didn't like someone spoiling her huge vision of it being the most romantic thing since that movie she liked so much about some huge ship sinking and pretty much everyone dying.

  
"Gee, fire hydrant, that makes all the difference then" Jaime rolled his eyes.

  
"A stalker would be much more aggressive in his actions. And a stalker would escalate in his behaviour; we covered stalking in class. And don't call me fire hydrant."

  
"Gingersnap?"

  
"No."

  
"Red terror?"

  
"Sansa will do just fine."

  
Jaime opened his mouth to retort something, but before he could actually get some words out, Brienne turned to him.

  
"Do you have time later today?"

  
"Depends. Does it involve me trying to fix something electrical and getting subsequently electrocuted?"

  
"No?"

  
"Then I'm free. What do you want?"

  
"I..uh..could need some help picking out and carrying home a christmas tree."

  
"I know nothing about that, I will not let you strap some scratchy piece of wood to the top of my precious car but I'll nod at whatever you're pointing at and promise to merely pretend to be carrying what you end up buying for only half the way to your place. Take it or leave it."

  
"Deal."

  
*~*~*~*~JOYEUX NOËL*~*~*~*~

  
In the end, after trying two lots that had been picked clean off all the good trees by the people of King's Landing already, they had found one that still had nicely looking firs. Only when they were just a block away from her apartment, Brienne thought of the fact that she could have simply bought a plastic one. Back home, they had always had a real tree and so it hadn't ocurred to her that it was an option. She had chosen not to tell Jaime about that thought though; by that point he had already been grumbling about cold feet and a runny nose for about half an hour. For his efforts, she made him coffee and let him have her last pop tart when they had finally gotten the tree through her door and into the livingroom corner which he munched on happily enough.

  
The next day, when she'd gotten off work, Brienne went to buy a tree stand and ornaments, baubles and everything else a proper christmas tree needed and that she didn't possess. Contrary to the trees of her childhood, she was following a color scheme with this one, though. Blue and silver. She even saw a christmas wreath that was already on discount and, on a whim, put it into her shopping cart to later put it on her door. And when she got home, she trimmed her tree and decorated it, the little blue bird getting the best spot, while her new cd played in the background and with her humming along.

  
The holiday spirit seemed to have taken control over Brienne to some extent. This whole past week, every day, she had done something christmas-y. On monday she had prepared the tree, on tuesday she had baked cookies and, not to pat her own shoulder, they had turned out great. Wednesday she had watched Miracle On Silk Street, munching more cookies than could be exercised away with at least three workouts, on thursday she had wrapped all the gifts for her friends, friday night she had met with Sansa to visit the student christmas fair at KLU and on saturday Brienne had gone to the library's christmas dinner with the rest of her colleagues. She had been toying with the idea of staying up and looking through the peephole in her door to see if she could finally find out who the still mysterious secret admirer slash Santa was, but a glass of wine, half a mug of eggnog and her inability to handle alcohol all that well shot that plan to hell and while she definitely was not drunk or in danger of a hangover, she was practically out the moment her head touched her pillow.

  
When Brienne woke on sunday morning, the first thing she did was to berate herself for falling asleep and ruining her chance to find out who it was. She hadn't even managed to put the letter on her doormat. And there were no more advent sundays after this one. Then she jumped out of bed to go and look.

  
Of course, the gift was already in front of her door. This was a golden envelope with a silver bow and the card lying on top of one corner. She took it with her back to the bedroom, slipping under the covers again and flipped open the card.

  
_"Brienne,_  
_Less than a week until Christmas, make my biggest wish come true and meet me at 8 in front of the opera house? Happy fourth advent, your nervously waiting secret admirer"_

  
He wanted to meet her? At the opera house, no less? Brienne swallowed. Sansa's words of stalkers are escalating in their behaviour flashed up in her mind for a moment. Shaking her head, she reached for the envelope and opened it. Meeting this person that had done so much for her spirits and given her all these things was something she had wanted. The fact that he had suggested it to her and not the other way around didn't automatically and necessarily mean anything bad.

  
It was a single ticket to the King's Landing Crown Orchestra's Christmas concerto. Oh boy.

The whole time getting ready for sunday brunch, Brienne kept a running list of pros and cons of going to the concerto in her head and by the time she walked into Hot Pie's she wasn't any wiser. Tyrion and Margaery weren't here today since they had flown to Highgarden for the weekend to attend the Tyrell family's official christmas party. Jaime hadn't arrived yet and so it was only Sansa and her for the time being. Of course, the redhead immediately wanted to know what had been on her doorstep today so Brienne reached into her inner coat pocket and pulled out the ticket to show it to her friend.

  
"He wants a date?" the younger girl practically squealed rather loudly. "Oh my Gods!"

  
"Shhh!" Brienne admonished, looking around.

  
"We're not in your library, I can gush if I want to. This is amazing! What are you going to wear? Do you want me to come over and do your hair?"

  
"I haven't decided yet if I'm going."

  
"What? Why not? Brie, this is a no-brainer."

  
"But what if..what if it is a weirdo after all?"

  
"Why is he suddenly a weirdo just because he wants to meet? The past weeks he was perfectly alright. Is it because of what Jaime said the other day?"

  
"No. Maybe. I mean I don't know.." she trailed off.

  
"It's just like a blind date. People have those every day. I've had blind dates."

  
"And what if it's a prank and when I show up he'll laugh his butt off?"

  
"That" Sansa said picking up her ticket and waving it, "is one hell of an expensive prank then."

  
She had a point. At this point, the whole thing was just too elaborate to be a simple prank on her. The tickets for the concerto alone sold for up to almost 400 dragons, since the orchestra was world-renowned and donated half of the profits of the evening to charities around Westeros. And not to forget all the other gifts she had received these past weeks.

  
"Maybe you're right.." she conceded.

  
"Right about what?" Jaime spoke up, sliding onto a chair across from her and taking off his coat.

  
"Brienne's admirer has invited her to the christmas concerto tonight!"

  
"Whoa."

  
"And she's going" Sansa declared as if it were a fact. Jaime's eyebrows rose about as far as they could.

  
"Really? I wouldn't go there alone...as I said before, he, or she, could be a total psycho."

  
"Don't scare her when I've just convinced her to give it a shot!"

  
"..but then again, he already knows where you live and if his sinister masterplan is killing you he's not going to do it in a public place but wait until you're home and asleep."

  
"That's not better, Lannister."

  
"Why? Going to that lame concert is apparently safe. Or, let's say: Safer."

  
"Just keep out of this. Don't listen to him, Brienne" Sansa implored while Jaime ordered his food.

  
"I just said going should be fine, make up your mind woman!" he complained once the waiter had left them again.

  
"Oh."

  
"I haven't decided yet if I'm going" Brienne repeated what she'd said earlier.

  
"If you do, you keep your phone on you, understood? I will make random check-ups."

  
"Yes, sir" Brienne saluted half-heartedly. "And thanks for looking out for me."

  
"No problem. Should keep me awake while trying to grade papers. One more essay about how great Baelor the Blessed was and I might stab myself in the eye. Baelor the Boring is more like it."

*~*~*~*~BUON NATALE*~*~*~*~

  
In the end, after much internal debate, Brienne decided to follow Sansa's advice and give it a shot. Her friends were right; a public setting would be the safest environment to meet the unknown admirer she could ever get, after all, it was hard to try anything with at least 1000 other people around. Maybe tonight she would meet someone nice, and if not, if nothing else came from it, if he turned out to be disappointing or disappointed with her, she would still get to hear the fabulous orchestra playing. And this way, she would get her chance to say thank you.

  
There wasn't much in her wardrobe that qualified as good enough for the opera, she was a jeans and shirt girl in her private life and slacks and blouses for her work days but there were two fancy dresses she owned. One she had worn to a function Margaery had taken her to as her 'date' during one of the times she had been separated from Tyrion about two years ago and the other one was what she had worn to the fancy dinner they had had after getting their master's. The second one lost after she had tried it on; it still fit, but it was more of a spring season dress, the color had never been one of her favorites and she more or less had only bought it because she had needed a dress and it had been on sale. Make up and Brienne had never been good friends, so she left it at a coat of mascara and some powder. Whoever she was going to meet had already seen her in her usual make up free state anyway and still wanted to spend time with her. Shoes were easy since she only had one pair that matched with the dress she had chosen and her hair with its chin length was too short to do much with it anyway. Putting on her coat, gloves, hat and scarf, Brienne caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror next to the coat rack. She was really doing this, it seemed. Well, the coat was too short for the long dress, but she wouldn't be wearing that for long. Grabbing a purse, she left to wait outside for the cab she had treated herself to.

  
When she arrived at the opera house, it was quarter to eight. The card had only said 'in front' so she went up the front steps to the massive open double doors, stood next to them so as to not block anyone from entering and waited, looking around every few moments if someone she remembered seeing before happened to walk up towards her. As the minutes passed, people in suits, tuxes and fancy gowns walked up and past her and Brienne didn't remember having seen one of them ever before. The closer it got to eight o' clock the more nervous she became. What if he was laughing after all? What if no one was coming? What if--

  
"I was hoping you'd wear blue" a deep voice from behind her spoke up. She knew that voice. Knew it well. Brienne whirled around to come face to face with Jaime. He wore a black coat and she could see the tuxedo jacket and crisp white shirt underneath. He looked nervous but the look he gave her was full of appreciation. Brienne swallowed, and blinked her wide eyes at him.

  
"You?"

  
"Me" he replied, spreading his arms to the side in a 'here I am'-gesture, the slightest crooked smile stealing itself onto his features.

  
"But...but you were telling me each week how crazy my..uh...secret admirer must be."

  
Now his smile got wider while he shook his head in faux exasperation.

  
"Diversionary tactic. And you have to admit, it totally worked."

  
It had. Not that she was going to admit it, though. There were more important things to be said.

  
"Why?"

  
"Why it worked? Well, you're--"

  
"No. Why me?" she interrupted. That dress being a good color on her or not, they still didn't play in the same league. Not even close.

  
"That's a rather stupid question, wench" He shrugged. "'Cause you're you."

  
"But--" she began, but this time Jaime didn't let her finish. He took her hands into his and fixed an intense gaze on her.

  
"Brienne: You're the best person I know. You don't take any of my shit, you have convictions that you stick to no matter what, you have beautiful eyes and this cute little thing where your nose crinkles whenever you're confused, just like right now, and every time we spend the day or an evening together and it gets to the point where I should say my goodbyes, I don't want to go. I haven't wanted to go in quite a while now. Don't ask me when or how, I can't pinpoint the exact moment I fell for you, I just realized one day that I'm way happier when you're around and that I spend way more time thinking about your lips than a friend should and came to the conclusion that I really, really want to kiss you. Now, if you don't want any of that, you can tell me, I'll try to go back to being simply a friend. Don't think that you're going to lose that if you don't feel anything more for me, I'll always want to be your friend."

  
He looked at her earnestly and Brienne found herself smiling at him.

  
"Why didn't you say anything? Why all the gifts and..this?"

  
Jaime shrugged.

  
"You deserve some christmas magic. Well, you deserve magic every day of the year as far as I'm concerned, but christmas seemed a good time to start."

  
"And you drove over to my place every sunday to sneak to my door every week? You're crazy. What was that about not simply ringing the doorbell?"

  
"I did warn you the secret admirer might be weird. FYI: He does have balls, though. I feel like I need to emphasize that part to not sell myself short. You still haven't said anything about what you feel."

  
"I.." she broke off because she felt the mother of all blushes come over her cheeks, but she wasn't going to let that stop her. This was a moment she had never thought possible, but it was here, it was real and she knew to the very last cell of her that she wanted to take this chance. Raising her head to look straight at Jaime, she started anew, safe in the knowledge that he was not going to use her words against her or make fun of her.

  
"If I had dared to hope, I would've hoped it was you."

  
The smile she got as an answer was heart-stoppingly beautiful.

  
"Jaime?"

  
"Yeah?"

  
"Thank you. For everything. This has meant so much to me."

  
One of his hands sneaked over her sleeve and scarf to her cheek, cupping it and stroking it with his thumb.

  
"Believe me, it's only the beginning. Now, I have one more gift before we go inside, but...it's probably for the both of us.."

  
His other hand went to his coat pocket and Brienne waited with bated breath what he would extract from it.

  
"No peeking, close your eyes" he chided playfully.

  
"Fine."

  
Closing her eyes, Brienne felt him taking a step even closer to her and her poor heart that hadn't gotten a chance to slow down since the moment she'd seen him, stepped it up yet another notch. There was a slight draft as his arm moved past her head.

  
"Okay. Open and look up."

  
Taking a deep breath, she did just that.

  
From his outstretched arm, a sprig of mistletoe dangled right above her and when she lowered her head again, his lips were already on hers, soft, warm, unbelievably gentle and promising magic.

*~*~*~*~THE END*~*~*~*~

**Author's Note:**

> Of course Happy Holidays to everyone reading this as well ;)


End file.
